A local Republican and a local Democrat were booted from the potential 2022 ballot this week, but for different reasons.
Republican Kenny Morgan, who was planning a primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, was disqualified because he had not voted in three of the past four Republican primaries, as state GOP rules state is necessary.
Democrat George Ryan Love, whose petition to run for Hamilton County clerk had been approved by the Hamilton County Election Commission, was disqualified because “he does not reflect the values of the Democratic Party.”
Political parties are allowed to set their own rules for candidates, and both moves this week indicate to us they want only serious candidates to be considered for office.
We aren’t saying, and the parties didn’t say, that Morgan and Love weren’t serious, but both parties seem to indicate candidates need to have more fealty than what they showed.
In the case of Morgan, he ran afoul of a party rule that has been in force since 2017, when the party raised the threshold for candidates from having voted in two of the last four Republican primaries to three of the last four.
So, if the Soddy-Daisy man had studied party rules, as any candidate should, he would have known he wasn’t going to qualify.
Morgan was a consistent Tennessee primary voter from 1990 to 2012, moved out of town from 2013 to late 2016, but hasn’t voted in a primary since his return.
That apparently means, in 2018, he didn’t vote in the all-important GOP gubernatorial primary in which now-Gov. Bill Lee squeezed between early favorites Diane Black and Randy Boyd, and he didn’t vote in the U.S. Senate and 3rd District congressional primaries, both of which were contested.
Then, in 2020, he didn’t vote in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in which now-Sen. Bill Hagerty fought off Nashville surgeon Manny Sethi and 13 other contenders. And in 2021, he didn’t vote in the special District 29 state House primary election in which Republican Greg Vital ran unopposed to fill the remainder of the term left open by the death of state Rep. Mike Carter.
One might excuse not voting in 2021 since Vital was unopposed and the only name on the ballot, but the 2018 and 2020 GOP primaries certainly came with consequences.
Morgan said he felt the state GOP rules, which now include a fee schedule for candidates and which we have lamented, insulate career politicians from authentic competition and apparently are in place to help guard against RINO (Republicans in name only) candidates. But we disagree.
If he had taken the time to vote in the primaries, paid his fee and qualified by other standard state rules, he’d be on the ballot.
In Love’s case, an online news source said Hamilton County Election Commission administrator Scott Allen said state Democrats ruled that Love wasn’t a “bona fide” candidate.
Rachel Campbell, chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, told this page it was “due to the nature of his past statements and actions.”
She wrote: “The Democratic Party is a professional political organization, and we determine who runs as a Democrat on the ballot. Due to the nature of his past statements and actions, it is determined that he does not reflect the values of the Democratic Party. Other Democratic candidates contacted the Party prior to beginning their campaigns. Had Mr. Love done that, we would have explained our position at the time. He did not do so.”
In other words, they could have saved him the time.
An email to the state Democratic Party for clarification on the candidate’s statements and actions was not returned.
Love in the past has run for Chattanooga mayor and for the U.S. House.
In 2021, he got 18 votes in the nonpartisan mayoral contest, finishing 14th out of 15 contenders. In the 2016 Democratic primary for Congress, he garnered 2,070 votes out of 16,059 cast, finishing third out of three contenders.
Love was the only Democrat who had qualified for the clerk’s race, though two independents, Chester Heathington and Nivek Rucker, will be on the August ballot as independents.
Incumbent Bill Knowles, a onetime Democrat who is now a Republican, is running for his 13th term in the office.
Running for office is, or should be, serious business. Individuals who consider it should not only read up on material about qualifying and campaign finances, but they also should be able to state why they are running, how they’d differ from candidates running against them and have a reasonable expectation of enough financial backing to be competitive in the race.
To be fair, Morgan and Love weren’t going anywhere in their respective races. That’s not to say they couldn’t have good ideas, or that Fleischmann and Knowles, respectively, don’t deserve competition. They do.
Elections are always better when they’re contested because they give voters a choice and force incumbents to explain what they’ve done in office. But before candidates get to that point, they need to make sure they’re square with the banner under which they choose to run. In this case, two didn’t.